Small Netherworld
by Jester Of Doom
Summary: Ranma ends up in the netherworld with a mission to conquer it; read it if you want to know why. This is my attempt to slowly write up a massive multi-crossover.
1. Deal with the devil…no, wait…

Small Netherworld 1: Deal with the devil…no, wait…

AN: Ok so first off I want to mention this fic is not based in the universe of Laharl or Adell or any other disgaea specific universe, it is however in the same multiverse so while Ranma wont start out living with the disgaea crew he may visit them via gateways or vice-versa. If you wanted to read this to see Ranma living with the disgaea characters you're outta luck, at least for a little while.

Also I had originally planned to write this with the portion I am currently posting as the "past" in the story, and intersperse the past segments with segments of "present" so that it would be a bit more interesting to read. I also planned to make some major changes before posting in terms of content, characterizations, etc. However, I have been diagnosed with terminal cancer, so screw it; I'm posting what I have as is even if it's not perfect. It'll come in a couple chunks since I don't like proofing a lot at once. Anyway, on with the story.

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The pigtailed youth sat in snow rising to his chest. His body was very numb due to exposure to the cold. He wore nothing but a thick shirt and thick pants; more would weigh too heavily on him. Despite the chill and meditation he thought he could still feel the scar on the back of his neck that Happosai had given to him three months ago. It was all that was really on his mind despite all attempts to clear it away. It had been much worse than Jusenkyo's curse had ever been. He could barely survive with it, even finding food could be a challenge.

He tried again to focus his mind. It would be stupid to waste months of searching for a cure only to fail because he couldn't concentrate. The mountain was, according to the monks of a nearby temple, said to be a holy place where one could receive visions from a higher power; they had also said something about heroes and their destiny or something; he hadn't really paid attention after he heard what he wanted. He'd run out of options of where to look on his own, no-one knew the cure to the ultimate weakness moxibustion and most agreed the art had been sealed away in a single scroll. Unless he got divine inspiration he didn't see how he'd find the cure.

He sat for hours trying to ignore everything using the soul of ice technique in combination with the meditation training he had practiced for years. Hours later he still sat, completely numb, until sleep took him.

-----

Ranma did not awake so much as realize he was already awake and someplace new. He was in a large garden filled with flowers. A tall brown haired man was watering the flowers nearby with a small watering can and seemed oblivious to everything else. He was, oddly, dressed in a blue robe. More importantly he looked REAL. This was not to say the garden around him looked illusory in anyway, simply that the man seemed to exude an aura that made his presence certain. He turned to Ranma as though he had just become aware of the boys presence. "Ranma, good to see you," he greeted kindly and gave a faint smile before continuing to water the plants.

"Huh?" the teen asked in surprise. "Who are you? How'd ya know my name?"

"I'm the seraph, Ranma, the leader of Celestia, what you humans call 'heaven'. I'm well acquainted with your file." When the man spoke Ranma didn't question the words for more than a second. The words themselves had a feeling of truth and finality to them and while his mind rebelled for a moment it was then caught up in the knowledge he was not being lied to.

"You… You mean I'm dead?" He was already beginning to curse his stupidity for sitting on top of a mountain until he lost consciousness.

The seraph chuckled lightly. "No, no, very close to death but you're still alive. You came seeking a vision and here you have it."

That shocked Ranma a bit, to some degree he had done this more out of desperation than expectations of a real effect. "Huh? It really worked?"

The man laughed again. "Of course! You came to our meeting place and drove yourself to the brink of death, it would be very rude not to meet you. Besides is in my best interests to meet with you anyway."

"Ah," Ranma responded and nervously rubbed the back of his head, he wanted to complain about having to go to so much effort but the guy was acting too politely to speak harshly towards; he especially did not want to get the guy who may be able to help him angry. "So, do ya know a cure for the ultimate weakness moxibustion?"

"Yes and no. We know how to rid you off the affliction but it should by no means be considered a cure. The moxibustion will last until your death."

"Huh?" Ranma eloquently summed up his confusion as to whether there was a cure or not.

"Without knowledge of the art itself you must die to be free of its effects." The man explained.

The young teen's shoulders slumped. "So that's it then? I'll never get my strength back?" One could almost hear the hope leaving his voice at the words.

"No, you will get your strength back, just not until you're dead." He drizzled a small amount of water onto a nearby daisy.

"What good's that do?!" Ranma snapped back at the man.

The man stopped his task and set down his watering can to face Ranma. "You would be surprised how important that is. It is why I had wanted to meet with you."

"Hah," the martial artist laughed despondently, "what good is strength when I'm dead?"

"In this case it is the only kind that will suffice I'm afraid." The man looked down sadly for a moment, "I could use your aid you see. There is a job I need done and I feel you may be capable of handling it for me. I need someone who fills many requirements for this job and you are, it would seem, the best candidate."

"Whadda you mean a job?"

"You are aware that this 'heaven' as you on earth call it. Have you put together then how real your 'hell' is too yet." The man's question was responded to by a hesitant nod demonstrating that the thought had only now occurred. "It, the netherworld as it is truly called, is in disarray. Many demons are vying for the title of overlord. Without a single leader and the troubles that are caused are endless."

"So? It's hell right? Ain't it supposed to be bad there?"

"No, no, it is simply different than Celestia; not bad per say, but it does have the capacity to be so. The problem, young one, is that all three of our worlds are linked. Disasters in one can easily affect the others. Beyond that even war between them is possible."

An idea hit Ranma when war was mentioned, he was after all a great fighter and fighter was the only job he was well suited for. "You want me in your side's army…" he accused feeling the man was trying to use him.

"Oh, no, nothing like that. You're not coming here I assure you, too many minor indiscretions have yet to be atoned for."

"WHAT?!" The apparently damned boy demanded. The sudden shock of finding not only was he wrong but that he was going to hell made him yell loudly enough as to make the other man looked very flustered.

"You're scheduled to go to the netherworld," the seraph responded with a sad shrug. "I had simply thought I would take this opportunity to make you an offer before you go. I need work done for me there and I could make your stay more enjoyable than it would otherwise be."

"Heh," Ranma laughed to himself again without much emotion. "So I'm screwed either way huh?" A sad nod was the response. He sighed to himself, "Man why's this crap always gotta happen to me?" he asked himself resignedly before turning back to his host, "so wadda ya want?"

"A simple trade: I provide you with what little help I can to see you happy in the netherworld, you on the other hand simply need to conquer it."

"Conquer it?"

"Yes."

"As in take it over…"

"Indeed."

"Ya want me ta take over all of hell."

"That is the goal, yes."

"That's insane!"

"I thought it was a good plan myself." The man looked taken aback at the harsh reception his idea had received. "There aren't any demons I can trust that well. None of my followers could be trusted to not make issues worse. And among humans there are few who are skilled enough and not likely to abuse the power they would gain too badly. Are you not a good fighter?"

"Of course! But I can't conquer hell!"

"Oh? Have you ever tried?"

"Of course I aint'!"

"And how familiar are you with demonic forces?"

"Um…" Ranma replied at a loss as he did not want to admit his ignorance. He did not want to admit that prior to seeing the absoluteness of the man he had never seriously believed in heaven or hell.

"I see," the man replied with a nod. "As things stand my evaluation of the situation seems to be the most informed. And trust me I would not ask you to attempt this unless you could succeed; though I make no promises as to if you will succeed."

Ranma was at a loss. He had to admit he really didn't know what he'd be up against if he accepted the crazy mission. He was the best fighter around, for his age, he knew some of his elders were better but given time he knew he'd leave them by the wayside. He'd never have considered really fighting the denizens of hell; had he they'd probably have locked him up at a funny farm. Could it really be within his power? It felt like the man was telling the truth, crazy as it was. He only really knew one way to know however. "So what do I have to do?"

"Oh many possibilities exist, it's up to you to decide on the details. You could gain wealth, power, supporters, political expertise, there are many ways to obtain the title of overlord; though I expect, and I hope you excuse me for doing so, that politics are not your forte. We will advise you a little where we can but due to the difficulty of maintaining communications most things will be left to you."

A sweat drop formed upon the young Saotome's brow. "So you aint got any idea do ya?"

"Essentially." The man nodded to confirm it. "Everything will be at your discretion. Are you interested?"

The youth thought about it. "So I can die now and help ya, and in return you help me in hell or wherever. Or I can just go on with my life as the world's weakest martial artist? That about it?"

"Besides the stemming of disaster your aid may give us? Yes, that does about sum it up."

"Right," Ranma said and steeled himself to make a decision he thought he may later regret in his usual manner of agreeing to something before really considering it enough. "I'll do it."

"Very well, you'll wake up in a moment. Just stay where you are for a few minutes without exercising and you will loose consciousness for the last time." Good luck Ranma he said with a final sad nod.

Then everything went white.


	2. Gaming the system

Small Netherworld 2: Gaming the system

AN: Hey ya'll I just thought I'd say sorry in advance that this chapter is a bit heavy on explaining how the Disgaea world works. As I said in chapter 1's notes I planned to intersperse this stuff and stuff from further into the story. My current desire to get things published in case I don't live that long is causing me to chunk it a bit more awkwardly. On the plus side after this there won't really be much in the way of mechanics I think. If I later get it written in depth enough to mesh it the way I want to I'll come back and change the chapter layouts; but don't expect that to occur.

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Ranma opened his eyes and everything was still white. It took him a moment to realize it but he was lying on his back and snow had fallen over him to create a cocoon. He didn't bother to move from where he was; he was too numb to feel the ice against him. He was really going to die in just a few minutes, and he was just lying there in the snow.

The young martial artist thought about his decision. What would his friends and family say when they found out he'd died? Actually they'd probably never know, he had no identification on him, and he wasn't even sure he'd be found, buried like he was. Maybe it was best they didn't know; he didn't want to trouble them.

He remembered the time he'd spent with his pop and the Tendos and everyone else. He even glossed over a lot of the bad parts since he didn't want to spend his last minutes being negative. He thought about getting up and going back on his agreement so he could see them all again, but the thought was quickly silenced. What good would he be? He'd just be a burden. Besides he was supposed to stop disasters from occurring after he died; he'd actually be a helping people if he were dead versus burdening them if alive. Man… that was dark thinking; he needed some happier thoughts.

He spent his last few seconds thinking that this was about the last way he would have expected to go. He always knew he would die just had always thought it would be in a battle. To bad they needed him dead or he could have died in a fight, or doing something useful, or fun, or… "Wait a minute…" Were the last words he said.

-----

Darkness cleared from his vision to reveal he was sitting behind a blue lump with small bat-like wings, which was itself sitting at a school desk. He looked to his right and there was a line of huge strange blue penguins with batwings and peg-legs, all sitting in school desks. To his left he found the same thing. It was an odd sight for sure, the fact they all not only looked the same, but also seemed to be held together by stitches added to their creepiness.

"Alright doods, that's the end of the seminar! If you came in late you can stay for the next session. Or you can just read the book dood." Said a similar looking, though yellow, penguin at the front of the room.

Ranma looked down and saw a book titled "So You're Dead." With text under it asking "Watcha gonna do, cry about it?" He looked back up from it to see some of the creatures were in fact crying about it while others got up from their desks and put their books into waist pouches they all seemed to carry. He saw they were all headed out the door and grabbed his book under an arm and headed out as well.

He felt a little awkward as he walked out into what appeared to be an airport terminal jammed full of the penguin creatures all heading towards a large door marked "exit". He couldn't place the feeling of what was wrong as he shuffled through the crowd, he felt like he was moving funny but he was just walking as normal and couldn't put his finger on the problem.

As he exited the terminal he saw a large number of small stands advertising job placement agencies. Moving among the booths were various people that Ranma assumed to be demons despite looking very close to, and sometimes exactly like, humans as well as many creatures that were obviously anything but human; all the creatures were taller than himself and the penguins. All members of the crowd seemed to be trying to attract the various penguins to talk to them, except one. Ranma caught sight of a small fellow standing on top of a booth holding a sign with "Ranma" messily scrawled on it.

Deciding he was quite probably the only Ranma in the crowd he jumped onto the building. The act attracted some attention but he ignored the strangers calling for him to come talk to them about jobs. He landed in front of the man with the sign. The man looked down at him in return, "You Ranma?"

"Yep dood." Ranma responded then stopped suddenly. "Why'd I say that dood?" He looked surprised as his involuntary statement was repeated. "Dood! Why'd I say that!"

The man chuckled at the boy's plight. "You get used to it, its prinny instinct. You can learn to stop it but most don't bother."

"Oh…. What's a prinny dood?"

"Ah, missed the seminar eh?" the man smiled, he liked bursting people's bubbles. "Well you are for one, and all those other down there. You know all the penguin things, you're prinnies."

"I ain't one of those stupid looking…" He pointed a finger out at the masses of prinnies, or he tried to only to find he lack fingers and appeared to have a wing instead. "What the…" he lifted his other hand in front of his; it was the same, though holding a book. "No way…" he touched his beak. "No…" He looked down at his peg legs. "DOOOOOOOD!" He moved back away from the strange man who had just shown him what he had become and lost his footing.

The stranger caught him before he could fall over off the roof. "You've got to be more careful, prinnies explode on impact, and I'd get in trouble if you blew up right off the bat."

Ranma turned around and looked back at the ground. He exploded on impact? What kind of place was this?...Oh yeah, hell.

"Well I guess we should turn you into another kind of demon as fast as we can, I don't want to have to babysit you for the next few days and make sure you don't go and get yourself blown up. I want this over with so I can get paid."

Ranma nodded "If it means I don't have to be a penguin long let's go."

"Follow me" The man said before leaping down behind a stand and starting to jog off. Ranma hesitated a second before jumping down. Satisfied that the controlled landing did not cause him to detonate, he ran and caught up to the man. "You're lucky you're in this netherworld kid, I hear in most the fist transmigration isn't any cheaper than the others; due to our labor shortage though the senate is encouraging more prinnies to transmigrate."

"What's transmigration dood?"

"You reset your internal chi-pathways, loose your chi-reserve, and suffer a bit of memory loss, but increase your potential strength." He looked over and saw Ranma was confused. "Consider how strong you could be if you train for a year. If you did that then transmigrated you could reach the same level of physical fitness again in less time, a few months maybe, the next time you did it you'd go even faster. Besides that there's the fact that once you get really tough you tend to only be training with tougher opponents, and that makes it go even faster. Here in the netherworld it can go very fast."

"So you have to recondition yourself but it's faster and you end up tougher?"

"Yeah, basically. Also it can allow your chi-paths to be changed so you can learn new skills and abilities that could have been hard or impossible otherwise. Well unless you're someone with a very resistant chi path configuration, then that isn't an option. For them any attempt to radically change the paths is difficult and unpredictable if not impossible."

Ranma thought about it for a few moments as they ran into an increasingly unpopulated area. It sounded like an ok idea, but not one he wanted to take advantage of much. He didn't really like the idea of so much work wasted. He'd do it now so long as it got him out of the penguin body but wasn't sure he'd use it later.

As they ran over a small bridge crossing a stream a team of six prinnies and two men with swords jumped out from cover to stand with the men in front of them and the prinnies behind. Several of the prinnies were waving about large fish like nightsticks. "Alright this is a stickup, you know the drill. Drop everything you've got and we'll let you go."

"Perfect." Said the man who was leading Ranma. The boy thought it was sarcasm for a moment but saw the man was smiling. "Well Ranma, lets see what you can do." He said before stepping aside and leaving Ranma free to fight the men.

"Right dood." Ranma agreed with a nod. Ranma moved quickly and disabled each of the fighters with amiguriken speed punches. They tried in vain to hit him with their swords but he defended against all their attacks. The prinnies meanwhile tried to swarm the man Ranma had arrived with, he simply moved away from them too fast for them to follow and they were left chasing him in circles, until Ranma brained them all over the head with their own fish. Ranma took a moment after rendering his enemies unconscious to marvel at having his own strength back, now all he had to do was not be a penguin.

"Good job." Ranma's temporary teacher informed him. "Those guys had a bit of skill so that little scrap probably netted you enough mana to transmigrate." He then bent down over the unconscious forms and started looting them.

"Huh," Ranma asked, being shaken out of his thoughts about his returned strength. "Mana, what's mana dood?"

"It's a kind of spiritual currency I guess. You get life energy from enemies when you knock them out. It's what we use to pay for things like transmigration."

"Oh so it's like hell's money?" Ranma asked with a little concentration to keep from saying dood at the end. He was really getting tired of doing that.

"No this is our money, that's 10 hell (HL)." He flipped a coin at Ranma. "And this isn't hell, this is the netherworld, get it straight cuz there're a lot of demon who are touchy as to whether they live in hell or the netherworld." He then proceeded to steal the shoes of one of the downed men.

"Dood, are you stealing his shoes?"

"Yeah you got a problem with it newbie?"

"Just seems kinda mean dood, money I get cuz they robed us an' all but his shoes?"

"You take what you get when you can get it." The man said with a shrug. "This is how the netherworld works. Theft and combat are our primary industries. If you want to make it here you've got to at least rob robbers." Then he straightened from the bodies after picking up the swords and one of the men's cloaks. "Come on, let's go," he continued then started off down the road again.

Soon after starting off again they made their way to a large, extremely run-down building on the side of the road. It looked like it had been a house for a wealthy family at one time but was now dilapidated due to centuries of neglect. "This is your new home. It doesn't have locks so don't surprised if squatters show up if you leave it alone too long. " The man said shortly and handed him a slip saying it was a deed. Ranma put the paper and his book into his belt pouch for safe-keeping; not that such things like property rights mattered much in the netherworld. "Now that you know where it is you can come back and explore it later. It's not in great shape but it'll work as a base of operations for you for now. Now lets get you transmigrated."

Ranma nodded eagerly and followed him back down the road they had come from. They quickly arrived back at the terminal where they had originated. He was led to a building set off from the terminal with a sign overhead which read "Prinny Transmigration" and was apparently built just for the purpose of encouraging prinnies to perform their first transmigration quickly.

Ranma was ushered by his temporary mentor into the building and to a small desk with a platform in front of it. As he drew closer he could see the desk had a screen in it which told him to stand on the platform and touch the screen to start. His mentor urged him to do so and a display quickly popped up. A picture of his old self, wearing his favorite red Chinese shirt and black pants almost identical to his own but sporting a few pairs of cargo pockets – and for some reason a red scarf he didn't think he'd ever worn, popped up on the screen standing next to a pitch black prinny with a pigtail. A message above them read "Restricted chi paths".

"Well it looks like you only have two choices, better choose well cuz there's no guarantee you can choose again."

Ranma snorted to himself, who would choose to be a prinny? He selected the picture of himself. A new menu popped up.

"Select the bottom one, less memory loss that way."

"Memory loss?" Ranma asked trying to once again speak without having to say dood.

"Every transmigration has it, its tough on the soul to be put in a new body. The more carefully it's done the less you loose but the more it costs, it's only an affordable option this time because it's your first. You still remember something like 90% of the things you learned, but it's the price you've got to pay. Unless you want to stay a prinny."

Ranma quickly pressed the bottom option. Minor memory loss he could tolerate more than an eternity as a prinny. A new menu listing physical and mental abilities popped up and asked for him to concentrate on what he would like to specialize in while pressing the screen again to proceed. He gave it a second of thought and decided 'attack' sounded like a good choice. He concentrated on his choice and pressed the last button.

A white light engulfed him and the platform he stood on for several seconds before slowly fading away. Ranma was revealed looking down at his own body once more. He caught sight out of the corner of his eye the monitor had turned reflective and took a moment to look himself over. He looked just like he had when he was human barring a few minor details. Teeth were a little pointier, same thing went for his ears. His eyes had taken on a reddish tint to replace the old blue they had been. Now he also sported a new scarf but that wasn't very out of the ordinary. He thought he was his normal height, give or take an inch, and age, give or take a few months. His muscles even looked about the same size though he felt like he had considerably less internal energy, and that was really where the majority of his strength came from.

The newly rebuilt demon was still studying his reflection when he was suddenly knocked off the side of the platform. He reached up and touched his face where he had been hit and felt a slimy lump forming; whatever had hit him had hurt. Looking back at where he had been standing he saw a prinny wielding a large trout menacingly. "What the heck was that for?!"

The penguin just ignored him and went about getting itself transmigrated. "Well you were taking a while," the demon who had been mentoring Ranma informed him from behind. "Demons are not the most patient creatures after all." He gestured at a small line that had been waiting for Ranma to finish. "Anyway we have things to do so get up and let's get moving."

Ranma got up and followed while grumbling about bird-brained penguins and giving his assailant dirty looks. "So what're we doin' now?"

"Only two things left we get you some gear and we get you some vassals. After that you can figure the rest out. Follow me," The older demon set off running towards the town at a speed Ranma could not quite keep up with.

When Ranma caught up with the man he was waiting out front of a shop that was bristling with weapons on their racks. Inside he could see stores of various types of clothing and other goods as well. "This is Rosen Queens Co. the best superstore in the netherworld; mostly because they have a tendency to kill off the big competition. You're a martial artist or something right?" Ranma nodded an affirmative to the man's question. "Right, wait a moment and I'll get you the basics."

Ranma took a moment to look around as his companion went into the store. He was near the middle of the town. He'd seen a large variety of demons on the way in; he'd noted there seemed to be some kind of pattern to their outfits too, like schools all had their own uniforms but these were more varied than that. He'd also noted the majority of demons were about his own age, there were older ones but they weren't common and they were definitely outnumbered by younger ones, he couldn't however tell the ages of the less humanoid ones. He also had noticed the odd buildings, most seemed poorly built or deigned by a more than slightly tipsy architect and from his own experience with frequently repaired walls he could tell that the majority had had large chunks restored in the past. He was looking at the building next door, adorned by a large red cross and visited by a regular stream of customers hauling in unconscious bodies, when his mentor returned.

"Looking at the hospital? Guess I should mention it, it's the only place to get healed and your energy restored fast. Also I'm sure you can guess it's somewhat hard to actually kill a demon but it takes us a long time to regain consciousness if hurt badly, it's taken years in some cases, so it's the best way to revive an unconscious demon. But enough of that, put this on," He tossed Ranma a few items he had purchased.

Ranma looked at the items he had caught and began to put them on. All the items had an odd style to them that seemed slightly gothic: black leather gloves with metal pads on the backs of the palms, a belt with a small silver skull on the buckle and rivets instead of holes, a pair of bracers with a flame motif, and a pair of slippers that had skulls over the heels. In a moment he had them on and he felt…different. He couldn't completely place the feelings the items gave him. "These things feel funny."

"They're augmenting your chi-paths," The other demon responded with a shrug. "You get used to them eventually. Now let's get this last bit done with so I can go. You shouldn't have as much of a problem keeping up now." Then he was running again. Ranma was right behind and found his last statement to be true, something the clothing had done made his legs feel lighter and he found himself moving at a faster pace.

They found themselves once again at the terminal where prinnies were arriving in the netherworld. "So what now?"

"Now we get you a few minions. We'll just hire you some prinnies. They're cheap labor and they'll do just about any job you tell them to, though you might have to smack them around a bit to make them listen. Since you don't have much mana you'll just have to hire them with cash, it's a better long term investment to get students but that takes time and mana and I just want this over with. Oh and here's the left over cash after your equipment from your boss gave me." He tossed Ranma a small pouch that jingled with coins. "Hire yourself four or five. That should cover four or five for a month or two if you don't spend it all at the hospital."

"Um right," Ranma replied as he looked back over at the mass of prinnies and demons trying to hire them that stretched in front of the terminal. He'd never hired anyone before. He really didn't know how to compete to hire someone either. He looked back to ask his older companion where to start and found the space he had occupied empty; it looked like the guy had really wanted to get out of there.

He looked around and tried to figure out the best strategy to use. Head on attack and try to hire one? Nah, too much competition. Ask for help? From a demon? No way. Divide and conquer? Bingo! He looked around for any prinnies escaping the massive frontal assault of agents looking to hire them. He found a good number, but who to choose? Just a moment, there was a group of four wandering off by themselves, or a group of three with one trailing anyway. That group could work, and it'd save time if he could hire all of them at once. Time to take a look.

"Come on dood." The trailing prinny whined.

"We are not talking to you Louie." Huffed the center of the three leading prinnies. He could tell it was choosing its words wisely to avoid saying dood because the sentence flowed oddly.

"That's so unfair dood." The one in the back whined again.

"Unfair?!" Yelled the one on the right. "DOOD! You killed us all and are the reason we went to the netherworld! We have a right to be angry with you Louie!"

"Oh yeah Merrill, like I'm the only reason you're here dood." The one in the back snipped to himself a little too loudly.

"Why you!" Merrill jumped Louie, knocking him over, and began to slap him with her flippers. She stopped quickly however as she noticed a demon sitting nearby laughing at them.

"What do you want dood?!" The prinny on the right stepped forward and raised its flippers into a fighting stance.

Ranma chuckled to himself one last time before the silliness of the prinny slap fight left his mind. "Calm down. I aint here ta fight. I'm just looking to hire some prinnies."

"Hire?" Merrill asked hungrily. A job meant payment.

"I'm sorry mister demon but we have decided to not involve ourselves in the affairs of demons." The prinny from the center told him carefully. From her slow manner of talking it seemed she was avoiding saying the word 'dood' compulsively.

"But Melissa," Merrill complained, "we need a way to get some money. We've got a big debt to pay off thanks to Louie, dood."

"She's right dood, we could use the money." Added the last prinny

"Be that as it may Genie, assisting a demon in acts of evil is against my will and not the reason I'm sure the great god Mylee had in mind for our coming here."

"I'm pretty sure Mylee didn't intend for Louie to blow up that sacred forest." Merrill snipped.

"Oh come on dood, it was an accident. Cant you just forgive and forget?"

"NO!" was the unanimous response.

"Doood," Merrill pleaded. "Cant we can at least see what the job is?"

Melissa looked at Genie and was met with a nod. "Very well, it couldn't hurt just to ask." She looked at Ranma expectantly.

Ranma suddenly felt nervous as all the prinnies turned to look at him. He wasn't really sure what to say. "Umm, ok let's see. I'm Ranma and some guy called a seraph asked me ta take over the netherworld an' I guess hiring prinnies helps do that."

"Seraph? Did you say you've spoken to the seraph dood?" Melissa asked quickly looking stunned.

Ranma nodded "Yeah, tall brown haired guy in long robes, I met him. Well it was in a vision or something tho, not like in the flesh. But yeah right before I died I climbed a holy mountain to get a vision and he asked me to take over the netherworld to prevent wars and stuff."

Melissa nodded. She wasn't sure if the physical description was accurate, the seraph was not known to contact mortals normally, but at least it was a name most did not normally known to those who were not deeply involved with the church. If he truly had a vision it could be important. "Thank you…Ranma we need a moment to discuss this if you would not mind."

"Sure, whatever." Ranma responded ad the prinnies regrouped in a huddle a short distance away.

"What's the matter? What's so important about this seraph dood?" Merrill asked Melissa.

"He is virtually unknown of by those who are not church officials. It is said the seraph is the head of the godly pantheon, even Mylee, god of battle, listens to him. He's rarely spoken of as cults used to form to destroy the temples the other 'false' gods when he was well known to the populace. Though working with a demon is against my will, I think Mylee would want us to investigate his claim."

"I'm all for it as long as we get paid." Merrill agreed.

"It might be a good way to get money dood but I'm not sure we can trust him." Genie chipped in.

"Come on dood I say we do it. It's an adventure, and anyway don't they say innocent until proven guilty?" Louie asked and was promptly knocked out of their huddle.

"Nobody asked you dood!" Merrill yelled.

"Alright, so shall we join him for now?" Melissa asked.

Merrill nodded "let's go make some money!"

Genie nodded as well. "It seems ok for now."

"Then it's agreed." Melissa said and turned back towards Ranma. "We have reconsidered. I'm Melissa, a priestess of the war god Mylee."

"Hey dood, I'm Merrill, a thief."

"The name's Genie. I'm a fighter dood."

"And I'm Louie dood," the last said while jumping in front of the others, "an adventurer magician."

"Except he can't cast spells and acts like an ogre." Melissa added pushing Louie aside.

"He's nothing but a liability dood." Genie commented.

"Dood! You guys are so mean…" Louie lamented.

Merrill pushed Louie aside and stepped up to Ranma and smiled up at him. "So let's talk wages."

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AN: By the way, this is still a work in progress, so send me any thoughts you have about things to see or what to have occur.


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